3 protesting tree-clearing for Pike County, Pa. pipeline arrested

Police have arrested tree-perched protesters fighting construction of a natural gas pipeline in Pike County, Pa.

Beth Brelje

Police have arrested tree-perched protesters fighting construction of a natural gas pipeline in Pike County, Pa.

Sitting in trees, protesters have been trespassing on private property at various points in Pike County along the right of way where Tennessee Gas Co./Kinder Morgan is clearing trees in preparation for a new natural gas pipeline.

Police estimate Stephen Olympia, 23, of Newburgh, N.Y., spent at least three days sitting high in a tree on a flimsy board supported by rope.

The makeshift tree stand swayed in the wind.

"I don't think I'd want to be in it," said Chief Chad Stewart of the Eastern Pike Regional Police Department.

The tree Olympia was in is located on hundreds of acres of privately owned forested land known as King Arthur Estates, off off Interstate 84 in Westfall Township, Pa.

Police say that at least three protesters had taken a turn sitting in the tree for a total of eight days.

Each had their face covered so their identity was concealed.

But then, pipeline company employees started a round-the-clock watch over the tree, assuring no one was bringing comfort to the tree-sitter, and that protesters stopped taking turns sitting in the tree.

Olympia was advised on Tuesday and Wednesday by police to come down from the tree, according to a criminal complaint. Olympia finally came down Thursday around 5 p.m. and when he did, pipeline workers called police.

He was taken into custody and charged with resisting arrest, defiant trespass and disorderly conduct.

Olympia was also issued a citation for trespassing on Feb. 20, along with Richard Henning of Middletown, N.Y.

On Feb. 20, the two were standing under that same tree with another individual, warming themselves with a fire.

Sitting in the tree above the three, was an unidentified man who called himself "Gifford Pinchot," the Pike County legend credited with starting the National Forest Service.

Pipeline workers asked them to leave. One of the protesters on the ground left as requested. Olympia and Henning refused.

Police were called and when officers responded, the two willingly left with police and were charged.

The man in the tree, with the covered face, refused to come down. Later, a woman, also calling herself "Gifford Pinchot" was found sitting in the tree with her face covered.

Officials have not determined the identities of either of the "Gifford Pinchots."

At another location, about a mile into the forest off of Cummins Hill Road, police were called to a tree on Feb. 26, where a man identified as Alexander Lotorto was sitting.

Lotorto, who last month had chained himself to a gate leading to the tree-cutting site, had no face mask on and police recognized him. When police asked him to come down, he refused. When told he was under arrest, Lotorto responded by climbing higher in the tree.

Police left and eventually Lotorto, 26, of Dingman Township, Pa., came down. He turned himself in the next day and was charged with resisting arrest, defiant trespass, and disorderly conduct.

Protesters have told police that they plan more acts of defiance as tree-cutting continues, Stewart said.